Jazz Use Their Own Magic to Erase 21-Point Deficit Against Orlando

January 10th, 2019 | by Steve Godfrey

Gobert and Mitchell led the charge on both ends to bring Utah back with a 60-30 second half (Game Still)

With the Jazz down 32-19, the team’s Twitter account seemed unfazed. “We prefer a comeback ANYWAY,” the Jazz’s online persona tweeted. It looked too optimistic as within three minutes, the Magic had doubled up the Jazz, 42-21. 

The Magic hadn’t lost a game all year after being up by 20.

The Jazz hadn’t won a game all year after being down by 20.

And, per Jazz radio voice David Locke, NBA teams this season were 9-225 when down by 20 or more. The Jazz etched their name as the 10th to win, as they used a strong second half to win 106-93.

Game MVP

After being criticized for his 0-fer performance in the fourth quarter in the loss to Milwaukee on Monday, Donovan Mitchell made sure he didn’t put up a sequel.

He fueled the Jazz run in the third as he drove circles around the defense and found cutters and shooters aplenty. Breathless, he motioned to the bench to be checked out. When he came back in in the final frame, DM45 put on a grand finale. 

He scored the first five for the Jazz in the fourth quarter and then continued to accelerate with 14 total points. He finished with a smooth 33 points on 12-for-21 shooting, including making four of seven from deep, while adding seven assists to just two turnovers. 

First half: on the wrong side of 63-46 start

But, listen, it really wasn’t pretty to start the game. 

Without point guards Ricky Rubio or Dante Exum at the helm, the Jazz were lifeless without a floor general to stabilize the offense and display a note of leadership. In the game’s first four minutes, the Jazz starters had put up just five points. That continued a trend of slow starts; the last time the starters built a lead going into the first substitution was five games ago, against the New York Knicks1

Inserting Kyle Korver and Royce O’Neale into the game didn’t have the desired effect, either. The Magic went on a 22-3 run while the Jazz shot 3-for-15 (20%) in that span. They were also clearly out-hustled with Orlando holding an 11-5 rebound advantage, 3-0 steal advantage, and a 6-2 assist advantage. The Jazz were also just not themselves as it took nearly eight minutes for them to attempt their first three-pointer, a Korver miss from the top of the arc at the 3:19 mark. 

In the first three minutes of the second stanza, the Magic were on a 10-2 run to double up the Jazz, 42-21. Jae Crowder and Georges Niang tried their best to will the team back into it but the spurts sputtered and the Jazz were down 17 to end the half, 63-46. Orlando was 9-for-14 from deep at that point with four players already in double-digits: Nikola Vucevic (14), Aaron Gordon (13), D. J. Augustin (12), and Terrance Ross (10). 

Second half: on the right side of a 60-30 finish

After trailing by 21, the Jazz went on a 13-0 run to trim the lead to five, 72-67. 

Then, it was a blur. More specifically, it was a 25-3 run in the final eight minutes of the third quarter.

Unlike the first half, the team was running for loose balls. The team was making the extra pass. The team was hitting the corner threes. The team was erasing any Magic mojo. The defense was stifling. In fact, the only three points for Orlando during the 25-3 run was when Augustin banked in a 30-foot prayer over the mountain that is Rudy Gobert, sent to bother the guard on a switch. Blink and the Jazz took the lead, finishing the run up 78-75 after back-to-back layups by fill-in starter Raul Neto to close the third quarter. 

Look closer and the Jazz allowed just 12 points in the third quarter, after giving up 32 and 31 in the first two periods. And then after that, it was all Mr. Mitchell to close it out and start the 4-game homestand with a W.

Side note: schedule, for both teams

Having played their third game in four nights, it quickly became clear the Magic were running out of gas in the second half. Utah was their last stop on a six-game excursion that included visits in all four time zones.

“It’s a tough situation for us and it’s disappointing the way we’ve been playing,” Vucevic said after his Magic lost at Sacramento on Monday. “We have to keep working and find a way to turn things around.” After Wednesday night, his feelings of disappointment were amplified and the need to turn things around even greater. When you are up 21, you have to find a way to close. 

For the home team, Wednesday night was supposed to be the start of something special for this Utah Jazz season. But then injuries to the point guards (and to forward Thabo Sefolosha and deep reserves Grayson Allen and Tony Bradley) put a damper on the dream. Nevertheless, for the Jazz to make the playoffs, and perhaps even earn homecourt advantage for a round, the team needed to start winning at home. For a half, it looked ugly. For another half, the Jazz got back to playing as expected.

Luckily for Utah, the next three are at home and eight of their next nine (starting with Wednesday’s contest) will be at Vivint SmartHome Arena in front of the home crowd. Even when the wins are ugly, the go in the right column.

Wednesday night’s tilt was game #42 on the season, meaning half of the 2018-19 season is over. As it stands now, the team is 1.5 games back from the No. 8 seed. They currently are fighting with the Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings, and Minnesota Timberwolves to crack the playoff pictures. 

And with a slew of home games coming, now is the time to make the run. 

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